Tennessee Vols Can Get An Elite Coach For Less Than $4 Million A Year

The future of the Tennessee Vols football program rests on the shoulders of John Currie.

It looks like the Tennessee Vols made a run at Jon Gruden and came up short.

That’s both good and bad.

It’s good that Tennessee made a run at him, and it might also be good they came up short. There’s no guarantee Gruden would’ve been successful in college.

But he was still the Vols’ reported top target, and anytime you strike out on the first person on your list, it’s obviously a bummer.

Unfortunately, that might not be the last time the Vols strike out in this coaching search.

It looks like Dan Mullen is Tennessee’s top target right now. But he could easily elect to remain in Starkville. He’s already well paid, and he has a good thing going there.

That means that Tennessee could end up hiring someone like Jeff Brohm or DJ Durkin — neither of which would provide a reason for fans to get excited.

Fortunately for the Volunteers, there’s a slam dunk hire they can get for probably less than $4 million a year.

Lane Kiffin.

Before you start yelling at me, just hear me out.

Kiffin is the perfect candidate for the Volunteers. He has SEC experience, he’s an offensive genius, he’s cheap, and he’s still only 42.

He’s also a wiz with quarterbacks (perhaps more so than Mullen).

But he has the negative history with Tennessee — which has been exaggerated through the years.

It shocks me that folks, in retrospect, still harbor anger toward Kiffin because he left for USC.

If you flip the script, and Tee Martin was the head coach at USC and Tennessee came calling, wouldn’t you expect him to do the same thing. Kiffin couldn’t help the timing.

And let’s be honest, that isn’t what set Tennessee football back. Sure it hurt recruiting, but teams now face the same dilemma with the early signing period. One recruiting class doesn’t make or break a program,

What really set Tennessee back was when Mike Hamliton hired Derek Dooley to replace Kiffin, instead of David Cutcliffe. If Hamilton made the right move there, UT football wouldn’t be in the shape it’s in right now.

It’s not like Kiffin desperately wanted out of Knoxville. Being the head coach at USC was a once in a lifetime opportunity for him. I don’t blame him one bit for taking the job.

And he tried to do the right thing. He tried to have a press conference to give fans an explanation on why he was leaving. Obviously that went south. Things happen in the moment, and to judge someone based on one night of their life is pretty short sighted.

I think Kiffin has paid his penance. He was fired at USC after he inherited an impossible situation. He was then forced to go the assistant route and oh boy did he excel at it.

Kiffin’s work as Alabama’s offensive coordinator was brilliant. It was so brilliant, in fact, that Alabama, the clear cut best team in the nation last season, lost the championship game because Kiffin wasn’t on the field calling plays.

Look, I know Kiffin has made his fair share of mistakes. But I think that’s true of all of us. I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes in life, a lot of things I’d love to do over. I also know, however, that I’m a much better person because of those mistakes. I wouldn’t be who I am now had I not made some mistakes.

I think the same can be said for Kiffin. He’s proved this season at Florida Atlantic that he’s an elite head coach. I don’t think anyone even knew Florida Atlantic had a football team before this season and he’s managed to turn them into one of the more exciting teams to watch.

Kiffin would have unbridled success if he came back to Tennessee. The reasons fans were so mad when he left is because they were excited about the future of UT football with Kiffin at the helm. This is Tennessee’s chance to see that once lost future become a reality.

Vol fans want someone that loves Tennessee. It would’ve been very easy for Kiffin to just write off Tennessee and pretend like that part of his life never existed. But it’s clear he still has a deep love for Rocky Top.

Can you imagine how much he would have to love Tennessee to be willing to come back to a place where he knows half the fan base still holds a grudge against him? It would be sooooo easy for him to say, nah I want no part of that again, I can get a job anywhere.

Next: Vols Latest Hot Board

Kiffin wants to right his wrong. He wants to make Tennessee great again. The Vols could pay Kiffin a salary that would also allow him to have a coaching staff full of all-stars.

Make the call, Currie. Bring Tennessee’s prodigal son home.